Telstra has had to take down its recent network security brand campaign after being found by Ad Standards of depicting “unjustifiable violence”.
As a result, the ads have been pulled from YouTube, free-to-air TV and TV on demand.
The campaign — which includes a 15-second and a 30-second ad — was brought to Ad Standards attention after a complaint was received on the grounds that the ad depicts characters slapping each other, and creates the sense that this is acceptable behaviour.
In the 30-second spot, the alien leader with four arms arrives at a work-station where two other alien subordinates are working. As he arrives, the leader says “Brian, a quick word”. While Brian acknowledges his arrival and turns to face him, the leader slaps Brian against the head, and says, “That’s for when you tell me the evil we’re about to release doesn’t work.”
As Brian pushes the ‘EVIL’ button, the word ‘EVILNESS’ starts loading on the screen, but is stopped with a notice saying, ‘BLOCKED TELSTRA NETWORK ENHANCED’. Brian reports, “Sir, Telstra do blockie-blockie”, at which point Brian’s colleague slaps Brian against the back of his head. The leader notes, “Failing is learning”, and walks away, while Brian turns around and retaliates by slapping his colleague in the face.
The 15 second version also depicts the aliens slapping one another.
The Panel found that the ad was in breach of Section 2.3 of the AANA Code of Ethics, as the ad showed unjustifiable violence and therefore would be removed from YouTube, free-to-air TV and TV on demand.
The ad also was found to breach of Section 2.6 of the AANA Code of Ethics, as it was contrary to community standards on health and safety.
The Panel considered that societal attitudes on violence have changed, and that members of the community would likely consider the act of slapping someone to be an act of violence.
The Panel discussed that the ads are clearly set in a fictional environment where aliens are attempting to scam people on earth, and that the violence shown was relevant to the story being told. However, the Panel found that the violence portrayed, even if considered to be humorous, was not relevant in the context of the product being advertised.
The Panel also weighed in on whether the violent behaviour was presented as a response to failure, suggesting that Brian deserved to be slapped in this way.
Finally, the Panel also explored the idea that the ads feature aliens and strange creatures, and cartoon style violence, which may attract the attention of children, and suggest that slapping someone when they fail at a task was appropriate.
Telstra responded by stating, “Telstra is a voluntary member of the Advertising Standards Board and we take community standards very seriously. We take a lot of care to ensure that the preparation and publishing of our advertising material is not only compliant with the AANA Advertiser Code of Ethics (‘Code’) but that we set an industry standard.
“The concept for this advertisement is a humorous demonstration of how Telstra’s network security works to block nefarious cyber threats.”
Similarly, another two ads of the ‘Network Security Brand’ campaign have also had to be pulled.
This time, not for violence, rather the use of the word morons.
In the 60-90 second spots, complaints were received by Ad Standards on the grounds that the ad depicts a person being killed, and that the word ‘morons’ was used in an unacceptable manner.
After deliberating, Ad Standards found The Panel found that the ads did not breach Section 2.3 of the AANA Code of Ethics, as the ad did not depict violence in a way that the Code seeks to prevent. But, it did find that the 90 second ad (which featured the word ‘morons’) breached Section 2.5 of the AANA Code of Ethics.
“The term ‘moron’ is used once as an expression of frustration between fictional villain characters. Telstra acknowledges that some views may regard the term as impolite or insulting. However, it is not directed towards the audience or an identifiable individual or group and occurs within the exaggerated interactions between the fictional characters,” Telstra said in the case report.
The campaign that features Steve Buscemi was made with Bear Meets Eagle On Fire and +61.
